A client sends a question on a Tuesday. He hears nothing. He sends it again the following Monday, gets an answer on the Thursday, and decides not to ask the next one.
The advice was good when it arrived. He is still going to leave, because he has concluded that nobody is there.
The decision clients are making
Not whether you are competent. Whether you are reachable. Clients cannot assess technical quality and can assess whether somebody answered.
When annual contact is enough
Simple affairs, a stable business, a client who genuinely wants compliance done and nothing else, and anybody who would find more contact an imposition.
When more frequent contact is needed
Growing businesses, anybody making decisions through the year, businesses with cash flow pressure, new companies and clients who value a conversation more than a document.
Publish the contact model
What the fee includes in meetings and questions. It is the difference between a client who rings and one who quietly finds somebody else.
Say plainly whether questions are included
In those words. Clients who fear being billed for a five minute call stop calling, and problems grow in the silence.
Publish a response time
Two working days, one, or whatever is honest. A stated commitment is what stops a client wondering on day three whether they have been forgotten.
Explain who they will reach
The partner, a manager or an assistant, and who handles what. Clients want to know whether the person they met is the person who answers.
Publish the out of hours position
Whether anything is answered outside working hours and what happens to a message sent at nine in the evening. Business owners work then and want to know.
Offer a scheduled check in
Quarterly or twice yearly, booked in advance. Most clients never request a meeting and most would attend one, which is the rhythm in review frequency and contact questions from clients.
Explain what a meeting would cover
So that a client can see the value rather than assuming it is a social call. An agenda converts an offer into an appointment.
Handle the routine questions automatically
Deadlines, what to send, fee queries and process questions can be answered at any hour, which frees the firm to answer the ones that need judgement, as in deadline questions clients ask too late.
Acknowledge everything immediately
Even when the answer takes days. An acknowledgement is not an answer and it prevents almost all of the anxiety.
Tell clients when you are unavailable
Holidays, the busiest weeks of the year and any period where responses will be slower are better announced than discovered. A short message in advance, naming who to contact meanwhile, protects the relationship far more effectively than an apology sent after somebody has waited four days.
Give clients a way to book time
Most clients will not ask for a meeting and will accept one offered. A published route to book a call, with the length and what it covers, converts an intention into a diary entry and removes the awkwardness of asking whether a conversation is included.
Publish it where prospects look
Because it is what distinguishes firms, and it is what prospective clients are actually comparing, as in switching accountants and the questions new clients ask.
Remember that the first reply decides it
New enquiries go to whoever responds first, which is the whole argument in speed to lead and the first reply.
Getting started
Publish your contact model, response time and who clients reach, build the page with the AI FAQ generator, then answer routine questions at any hour. SpideyChat for accountants answers from your published pages, plans are on the pricing page, and the chatbot ROI calculator works through the numbers.